Top Tips for Choosing Your Child’s High School

​Your child has or is about to, commence primary school, and it’s at around this stage that you start thinking about your child’s future education, in particular, high school.

It is an exciting and nerve racking time when it comes to your child finishing primary school. It means that they are off to the big world of high school and a lot will change once they become a high school child.

There are bound to be a lot of questions being asked and things going through your head.

What school will you send them to?

Will it be a co-ed school or single sex?

Public or Private school?

These are all important questions and things you do need to consider when choosing a high school for you child. I’ve put together a list of the key things that I’ve found need to be considered when choosing the high school for your child to attend.

Short list

The first thing to do is to short list the high schools that you are aware of in your area, that you are keen on sending your child to.

Once you have the list you will be able to look out for the different aspects in each school to help you make your decision on which one to send your child to.

Waitlists and applications

Many high schools have lengthy applications that you need to go through or waitlists you need to be added to in order to be considered for a position at the school.

This can be the case if you are wanting to go to a school that is outside your local area or is a private school.

Go through the schools that are on your short list and determine the application process for each school, whether you need to be added to a waitlist or if there are deadlines for when the application needs to be sent in by.

Speak to your child

It is important to include your child in the process and listen to their views and what they want as well.

They may want to go to a school that their friends are all going to, or they may want to go to a school that has certain programs that interest them.

Ask for their input and make sure you keep their desires, as an important factor when making your decision.

What they have to offer

Look at the different schools on your shortlist and look at the variety of things that they have to offer.

Different schools have various programs that they offer and some of these may be more important to you and your child than others, or they may be of a higher interest to your child.

It is important to find an environment that your child is excited to be a part of and that they will want to attend and enjoy their time there.

Think long term

It is important to think about the long term and whether or not the school will be a good fit for your child moving forward.

If you are sending them to a school that is out of your local area – are you going to be able to continue driving them each day?

Will there be public transport available?

Will the travel time become too much for them?

Think about all the different factors and whether the choice will be beneficial for the long term.

Ask for feedback

Hearing from families already in the school will help you to determine the type of school that it is, and if it will be a good fit for your child or not.

Getting reviews on the school will help you in the decision process and it will help you to find out a little more about the school and how it runs with the children in it.

Feedback and reviews are important when making your decision.

Overall you need to make the decision that will best benefit your child.

Choosing a school just because it is the closest school or because it has the lowest fees is not going to necessarily be the best choice.

You need to take into consideration all aspects of the school, yours and your child’s lifestyle, in order to make the best decision.

Speak with the schools, your child and your family, to make a decision that is going to benefit your child’s education, social skills and overall development into a young adult.

Nicole is a mum of two girls aged 5 and 3, made to order cook, cleaner, crafts organiser and family budget manager. In between cups of coffee, you will usually find her assisting a toddler with the toilet, cleaning food scraps off the floor and basically trying to keep her mini-me’s alive. She knows all too well that if you don’t keep them busy they will find their own busy-ness, by doing something mischievous!

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